Hard feelings waft over proposed sewer plant

Land purchase:

March 31, 2004: The majority of the land - 76.2 acres - originally is deeded as a gift to South Texas Zoological Society from Marie O'Connor Sorenson.

April 16, 2004: The filed deed limits the land specifically for establishing and operating a zoological park and any facilities necessary to its establishment. The deed provides that any delay or interruption in establishing a zoo is not a violation, "so long as the premises are not occupied, improved or used in any manner other than for the purposes of a zoological park."

June 5,2009: Douglas Giles, president and director of the South Texas Zoological Society, signs the deed over to Tony and Sherri McGarrah and Amanda Mahurin, of Inez.

June 9, 2009: Filed deed shows they paid $135,000 for the tract. Property appraised and assessed at $2,730 in 2009 with a land market value of $45,860 in 2009.

Jan. 29, 2010: City purchases the land for "$10 and other valuable consideration." The final sale price is $343,901, or $4,500 per acre, according to the executed contract. Property appraised and assessed at $64,560 in 2010 with a land market value of $64,200.

Source: Victoria County Clerk, Victoria County Appraisal District, City of Victoria

City Council special meeting:

What: Vote on a $175,000 transfer to cover legal fees related to the hearings.

When: 5 p.m. Tuesday

Where: 107 W. Juan Linn St.

DISTANCE TO...

Lazy Longhorn RV Park: about .422 of a mile

Dudley Elementary School: about .863 of a mile

Incarnate Word Convent: about .791 of a mile

Bordered by open pastures, railroad lines and single-lane roads, some residents nestled in South Victoria might soon have a new, albeit unwanted, neighbor.

These residents, organized as The Concerned Citizens for the Health and Safety of Victoria, stepped up to protect their community against the dark side of modern living - sewage treatment.

"Once they put that plant there, it'll stay for 50 or 100 years," said Henry Perez, a leader of the opposition group.

Battle lines drawn

Their plan is to stop the city from receiving a permit to build at that site.

But, the city is pushing back, saying the location is the most efficient and has the smallest impact.

The city and the citizens group are involved in a series of court hearings to determine the fate of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality permit to build the plant.

In January, an administrative judge will decide the outcome. If approved, construction could begin in 18 months.

Perez said his efforts are for the sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament of Victoria, located less than a mile north of the proposed site, but already about a mile east of the 50-year-old plant at 1509 S. Willow St., which would be closed.

Sister Patrice Schorp recalled the three years the city dumped its sewage sludge in the dump outside their shared fence.

"We were unable to eat outside or open our windows," she said. "We could never celebrate outside."

Speaking with carefully chosen words, she said although it stopped, the sisters will not "put up with it again."

The convent would be in direct line with the southeast winds of the proposed plant and could continue to be subjected for years with sewage odor, she said.

"Nobody is against the building of the plant, but it's the place in which it is put," Schorp said. "They should find a place farther away. Nobody should be exposed to that odor ever again."

The issue in Victoria was set off in early 2005 when the city's plant operated at 75 percent capacity for three months, triggering a rule that requires cities to begin planning for expansion.

The city hired Austin-based engineers Camper, Dresser and McKee to perform a study. From that, they calculated that the city needed to add capacity of 1.9 million gallons per day to meet the projected population growth.

Expanding that location was not an option, and because the regional plant is within a limited flood-protected area, its expansion is not an option either, said Victoria Public Works Director Lynn Short.

If the city expanded it, "it would be the absolute final expansion down there," he said. "Then you'd be back at this location."

In thinking long term, the city decided to build a 4.4 million gallon plant and close the 50-year-old plant at Willow Street, rated for 2.5 million gallons per day, he said.

In November 2010, the city started pursing a permit to build a plant. Engineers investigated nine locations across the city, looking at proximity to the Guadalupe River and the floodplain, room to expand, population density, proximity to the $500 per foot wastewater collection mains on Bottom Road and the regional wastewater plant on U.S. Highway 59.

Eventually, officials settled on the site off southwest Ben Jordan Street.

"The problem with most of those sites was they were in a floodplain, or not close enough to the large diameter sewer mains or the regional plant site," Short said. As a result, construction at any other site could cost millions more to build.

Election issue

The issue has become a controversial topic for the May 12 city council election.